21st June 1877: Ten Irish immigrants hanged, accused of being in the Molly Maguires secret society

In the shadow of the Great Famine that devastated Ireland’s potato crop from the mid-1840s, millions of Irish families emigrated to the United States. This coincided with the rapid expansion of railroads and industry that required large amounts of fuel, leading to large numbers of the new arrivals settling in the anthracite coal mining region of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Wages in the coalfields were low, and working conditions were so poor that hundreds of miners had either died or been badly injured by the time the Civil War acted a catalyst for violence that saw the murders of mine foremen and superintendents. The tension between mine owners and workers was only worsened by the Panic of 1873 that brought a devastating economic depression.
Mine owners believed that a secret society known as the Molly Maguires were behind the violence. In 1873, Franklin Gowen of the Reading Railroad hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to destroy the Mollies. Irishman James McParland led the two and a half year investigation, using the alias James McKenna to infiltrate the Ancient Order of Hibernians that was alleged to be the cover organization of the Molly Maguires.
McParland’s testimony helped to convict ten men for murder, although the trials were later branded ‘a surrender of state sovereignty’ due to the level of private business involvement in the cases. Nevertheless, on 21 June 1877, ten men were hanged - six in the prison at Pottsville, and four at Mauch Chunk in Carbon County. Although historians have questioned the convictions, the executions consolidated the power of mine owners over their workers.

[@patrickkelly5004]

My great-great uncle, James McDonnell, was one of the last of the alleged Mollys hung in Mauch Chunk (later renamed Jim Thorpe) in January of 1879. I'd heard a remake of The Molly Maguires was in the works, or being considered, and would be keen to see an accurate cinematic account of the incident.

[@kellymurphy6642]

My great grandfathers O’Donnells and McLaughlins worked the same mines with your uncle. My father told the stories that his grandfathers told of those days in the mines and when they were hung. My grandfather went on to work the mines in Scranton at the beginning of the new century. You’re g uncle is a hero

[@XxNoFlaggitsAloudxX]

No due process.

[@mikereilly7629]

My ancestors on my father's side were all Molly's. From talking to their direct descendants in the early 60s. Seeing the family photos and the tools and possessions that they hid from the authorities... You can be proud and certain that they were not people to be taken lightly, The old Shillelagh hanging on my wall reminds me of that

[@butter7734]

I live in the Pennsylvania Coal Region now. One of the best places in the world these days. My small town of 5000 was the first community in the world to be lit by electric street lights and Thomas Edison built his 6th power plant here.